Grade 11
MemoirWritingAlisson is an eleventh grade student at the Academic Leadership Community. She is very caring and empathetic towards the people she loves. She wishes to graduate from high school and go to college.
“Tienes que estudiar para que no andes trabajando así de duro como nosotros.” “You have to study so you don’t end up working hard like us.” My mom and dad would constantly tell me this when I was younger, but I never fully understood what they meant. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to realize its true meaning. They’ve just wanted me to live a different life from the one they had to live.
My parents have been working tirelessly their whole lives. From having to provide for their families in El Salvador, to later providing for their children. Even when I was little, I’d notice how hard my parents worked to take care of my brother and me.
When I was in elementary, my mom worked night shifts and wouldn’t come home until around two in the morning. Despite being exhausted, she would still get up at seven in the morning to make breakfast and take us to school. I know it must’ve been very demanding to take care of two young children while being sleep deprived. And my dad, who has gotten up at around four or five in the morning ever since I can remember. He’s been working as a gardener for around 27 years. He works very long, grueling hours for six days of the week. I can tell that his job is difficult, as there’s been several times he’s come home with cuts and scrapes that he gets while working. Due to this, he is constantly under a lot of exhaustion and stress. But, he still tries his best to spend time with us.
My mom and dad are truly the most hardworking people I know, who have sacrificed things for their family and never complained about it. Both of them came to the United States looking for better opportunities. They were scared, and not knowing what to expect, as they used to live in poor and small villages. They never really had the opportunity to study and pursue a higher education, which is why they push me hard to do well in school. They’ve told me stories about their childhoods, how most of the time they’d barely have any food and would have to share the little amounts they had with their entire families. Hearing those stories has always made me tear up because I realize that is the reason why they make sure we’ve always had food on our table. That is why they work so hard, to give us things that they were never able to have as children, and so that my brother and I wouldn’t have to suffer the way they did. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for my parents and for everything they have done.
This piece was originally published in The Roots that Connect Us by 826 LA.
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